Flaming Nora

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update  has just gone live here . And if you'd like to support the Coronation Street weekly updates to keep them going (please),  you can donate here __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

This week I am one chapter closer to finishing the first draft of the novel I'm currently writing. It's another saga, set in the northeast village of Ryhope where I grew up. It's a really great story, with some wonderful characters. What's surprised me most, and wasn't planned for at all, is the friendship that has arisen between an older woman and a young girl. I love it when surprises like these arise in my writing, it seems the characters often tell me (I know that sounds daft) where they want their stories to go.  One more week and I'll finish the first draft. It's tempting at this stage to rush to the finish line, to write THE END and be done with it before going back in for a second draft, adding and taking away. But I resist the temptation to rush. I write slowly and regularly, little and often, four days a week, allowing myself Fridays and weekends off. In other news this week, I sold two short stories to The People's Friend magazine for publica...

Would you like to win a signed copy of my novel Pearl of Pit Lane set in the northeast in 1919, a bar of Terry's chocolate orange & some lovely bookmarks?  To enter see pinned post at http://facebook.com/GlendaYoungAuthor   Competition closes at 5pm on Wednesday 3 February 2021. Good luck.   __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update  has just gone live here . And if you'd like to support the Coronation Street weekly updates to keep them going (please),  you can donate here __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

What could be better than books and a bouquet for Valentine's Day!  Place your orders now for delivery with Ryhope Florists Sunderland on Facebook , or through their website: http://www.ryhope-florists.co.uk or tel: 0191 521 0603 __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

This week I've been chopping and changing the writing plan for my current novel in progress as I'm now just three weeks away from ending first draft. As I spy the finishing line in sight, I need to make sure that all loose ends are  tied up, all characters are being given the send-off they deserve and the story falls neatly into place.  A lot of planning is needed, I feel, at this stage, so that nothing gets overlooked. It's a first draft, of course, so things might (and will) change, but it's good to bring the loose strands together as best as I can right now.  There's been a day or two of planning and the rest of the week spent on writing. I'm fully immersed in this novel, I like it a great deal and my heroine is one like no other I've written before. With the end of writing my first draft in sight, this week I rewarded myself by ordering the ultimate luxury - novels for me to read.  I've ordered Actress by Anne Enright, Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan...

I've a short story in My Weekly magazine this week and it's called Fabric of Life.  Stumped for writing inspiration one day, I asked my husband: "What shall I write about?" He replied: "Tea towels and the memories they hold."  After I stopped laughing at him, I began to write and the result is beautiful, funny and sharp. __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

You're invited!  There's to be a virtual book launch for THE PAPER MILL GIRL via The Word N ational Centre for the Written Word in South Shields on March 18th at 2pm.  From the comfort of your sofa, please virtually join me there!    All details including how to  sign up and join in are here. __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update  has just gone live here . And if you'd like to support the Coronation Street weekly updates to keep them going (please),  you can donate here __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

This week I've been working hard, continuing to write my current work in progress. It's my seventh novel set in 1919 in the coalmining village of Ryhope, where I was born and bred.  As yet, it's untitled, and I'm almost two thirds of the way through the first draft. It's rough and raw at this stage, and the second draft will see it polished and made shiny before a third draft, maybe even a fourth, sees it being sent to the publisher before the deadline of end of May. Also, this week was a very special week as something happened that I've been looking forward to for months. My publisher Headline sent me the cover of my sixth novel The Miner's Lass.  I'm over the moon with it, the heroine looks exactly as I pictured her and the background is superb.   Read more on the cover and the book here .   Elsewhere this week I was featured on Sunderland University's news page after they invited me to share my lockdown experiences with them.  Why Elvis? And wh...

I've always loved the strong, dramatic images of all of my books. They reflect the strong, dramatic women that I write about and the strong, and you've guessed it, dynamic, stories that I write.  And I know it's wrong to have a favourite, it's like choosing a favourite child. But, I really like this one a lot.   It's the cover for my novel The Miner's Lass  which comes out in ebook, hardback and audio in May this year and in paperback in October.   The Miner's Lass   features my most innocent heroine yet. She's called Ruby and she's a gem... but oh boy, do I put her through hell. If you'd like to, you can order in advance.   __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

Sunderland University was where I studied journalism as a (very!) mature student. They asked me to let them know what I've been doing during lockdown.  It involves a performing group of 12 Elvis impersonators (Twelvis) and plenty of tea.  You can read it all here. __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

I've been writing Coronation Street weekly updates since 1995 and this week's Coronation Street update  has just gone live here . And if you'd like to support the Coronation Street weekly updates to keep them going (please),  you can donate here __ Glenda Young Author of historical novels with Headline Twitter: @Flaming_Nora Facebook: GlendaYoungAuthor

This week I received the sort of news that every author likes. Each time a book is borrowed from a library, the author receives a small fee from Public Lending Rights (PLR). Those small fees add up and this week I received my statement for the last year, up to June 2020. The money received means I can go mad and have chips and  rice for tea.  Seriously though, thank you very much indeed to every reader and each library, because money earned from PLR means a great deal. In other news this week, I was invited by Sunderland University to write a lockdown diary and let them know what I'd been up, as an author. I wrote about how having time on my hands last summer meant that I turned in my saga novel to publisher Headline well ahead of schedule. This left me free to write a fun cosy crime called Murder at the Seaview Hotel .    My lockdown diary went live on Sunderland University's staff and student site, which isn't available to read by the public, but here's the fan...